> He's describing a fundamental game mechanic, namely the way the series handles saves and respawns.
No, he's describing how a fundamental game mechanic (namely the way the series handles saves and respawns) was misunderstood by him to require him to "pointlessly repeat large chunks of levels" to get back to the area Boss, because he missed or misunderstood a separate fundamental game mechanic (exploration is rewarded with discovery of shortcuts that lead to you discovering that the world is heavily connected and you generally never spawn more than 30-45 seconds away from a Boss via the shortest path)
